Google Doesn't Forsee Revenue Decline: CEO

SANTA BARBARA, California (Reuters) - Google plans to let its cash "pile up" as it weathers an economic recession but doesn't expect to see a fall in revenue, the Web search leader's Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Wednesday.

Google will only use its $8.6 billion cash cushion for "very, very conservative investments," Schmidt said, and is unlikely to start a dividend in the current environment.

"We've not really discussed a dividend payment," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Wall Street Journal ECO:nomics conference in Santa Barbara, California. "At the moment our view is to let the cash pile up."

Earlier on Wednesday, Schmidt said the economic storm will affect all forms of advertising, including the online ads that Google depends on, but that Google was unlikely to see a drop in revenue.

"We don't predict things like that," Schmidt said in a CNBC television interview when asked if the company's diversity would shield it from the economic slowdown.